Transfer from computer-based working-memory and reasoning training in children is narrow: gains stay within the trained domain¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · review r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2012 · checked against its sources 2026-10-20 (automated, 1 of 1 entry) · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Training on working memory improves untrained working-memory tasks but not inhibition, and probably not reasoning; reasoning training does not improve working memory or processing speed. → Diamond Adele 2012 q2 i? Nonverbal-reasoning training transfers to the same type of nonverbal reasoning but not to a different type, and nonverbal working-memory training did not transfer to verbal working memory. → Diamond Adele 2012

Evidence¶

Diamond Adele 2012¶

Diamond Adele. (2012). Activities and Programs That Improve Children's Executive Functions. Current Directions in Psychological Science. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721412453722

q2 · i? · review · r2

Narrative review synthesis of computer-based training studies; the review reports that working-memory training "does not improve inhibition" and only probably not reasoning, citing Klingberg et al. (2005) as a possible exception.

"In children, training on working memory improves performance on untrained working memory tasks, but it does not improve inhibition (Thorell et al., 2009) and probably does not improve reasoning or problem solving (Bergman Nutley et al., 2011; Thorell et al., 2009; but see Klingberg et al., 2005)."

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Executive Function — outcome: instruction changes it
• Working Memory — outcome: instruction changes it

Related Claims¶

• CogMed computerized working-memory training improves practiced working-memory skills with narrow transfer, and controls playing the same games without increasing difficulty show no gains — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Computerized training of inhibition in young children shows limited success, and a randomized trial found narrow, skill-specific transfer of working-memory and reasoning training in 4-year-olds — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Computer-based training reliably improves children's working memory and reasoning, but computerized training has not succeeded in improving 4- to 6-year-olds' inhibitory control — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Task-switching training improves untrained switching and other executive functions in school-aged children, though transfer findings are heterogeneous — related
• Metacognitive scaffolding added to computer-based executive attention training produces larger intelligence gains in preschoolers than regular training or an untrained active control — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Isolated EF interventions show robust near-term EF gains but poor transfer, including to early mathematics — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Digitalised task training shows highly inconsistent evidence, appearing particularly suited to improving working memory — related